10 thoughts on “Cover Design: Stoic Week Handbook”

“The Buddha, the Godhead, resides quite as comfortably in the circuits of a digital computer or the gears of a motorcycle transmission as he does at the top of the mountain, or in the petals of a flower. To think otherwise is to demean the Buddha – which is to demean oneself.” – Robert Pirsig

For what it’s worth: I posted it for feedback on the Facebook forum and the responses there were all very positive. I think it looks great and we’re very grateful to Rocio for doing it free of charge and at short notice for the project. 🙂

Stoics are not mechanical thinkers. When will people supposedly interested in Stoicism begin to realise that Stoicism is rational and inspirational based on recognising that we are sparks of the Divine Fire. Stoicism has a spiritual basis and is not a supporter of the mechanistic world view where even the self is degraded to nothing more than robotic action and thought..

We were experimenting with ebook format – trying to see what it can do that other formats can’t to make online texts more engaging or interactive – and I asked Rocio to create an animated GIF design because I wanted to test whether it would render in EPUB readers. (Sometimes it does but not always.) So I think that’s how the cogs originally came about: as a bit of an experiment. People seem to like the design, though, so we’ve kept it. I guess you can read your own meaning into it. We wanted some reference to modernity or technology, so I see it as a reference to the integration of classical philosophy with the modern world of technology.

Re: Stoic Week 2014 Handbook cover. “Electricity company has cut off my supply because I cannot afford to pay the bill, my blade is blunt and I have lost the scissors. However my face will be warm this winter, I can provide a good nesting place for birds, and any crumbs that fall from my lips will feed them. I am Stoic.” Anon Nov 2014i